Gas Taxes

[Hack]

Gas taxes do pay for our roads, but many states, such as Michigan, send far more to Washington than what we get back in federal transportation dollars. And you also need matching funds to get your federal funds. In this economy, a lot of states are leaving a lot of transportation money on the table in Washington.

I live in a state that is a virtual desert for public transit. We make cars here -- well, we used to make a lot more cars here not that long ago, but I digress -- and public transit here is pitiful. Cars are the way of life. I think it certainly hurts our economy that we don't have good public transit. In many cities, we can't move people out to the suburbs, where the jobs are. If they don't have a car or a ride-share, they're screwed.

Also, though my experiences in Europe are limited to the Netherlands and Belgium, I can tell you that while public transit is plentiful (trams, subway, trains, buses), it's not always on time, reliable or convenient. I only used it a couple of times, since my gf at the time who lives there has a car because she hates public transit. They don't make it easy to own a car there. Parking is a premium, taxes on your car (a monthly payment) are high and there was talk recently in the Netherlands of putting a odometer tax on cars. In other words, the government would put a device in your car that would report how many miles (sorry, kilometers) you drive in a month and then tax you for each kilometer. They are trying to raise more money to keep up their roads.

As a career public servant, I can tell you there are few, if any, perfect solutions when it comes to paying for the services the public expects.

Jake